Container sealing means



Dec. 12, 1961 G. DALLAY CONTAINER SEALING MEANS Filed June 3. 1958 INVENTOR GASTON DALLAY ATTORNEY United States Patent Olihce 3,012,687 Patented Dec. 12., 1961 3,012,687 CONTAINER SEALING MEANS Gaston Dallay, Saint-Cloud, France, assignor to Emboutis Metalliques Appliques, Saint-Cloud-Coteaux, France, a French society Filed June 3, 1958, Ser. No. 739,492 Claims priority, application France June 4, 1957 2 Claims. (Cl. 21S-40) This invention relates to container sealing means of the composite type including a cap of resilient material, e.g. plastic, and a metal cover thereover. The metal cover or capsule is provided with tearing means, such as a ripper strip, and ensures against unauthorized opening of the container, e.g. before sale. After the metal cover has been torn oif by the user, the plastic cap can be used for repeatedly sealing the container.

it has previousy been attempted to construct composite sealing lmeans of this type in such a manner as to permit simultaneous appication of the plastic cap and metal cover at the bottling plant in order to reduce bottling costs. Such procedureihowever is rendered diicult owing to the fact that the plastic cap must necessarily be distorted as it is inserted past the protruding annular rim or flange of the container, thereby tearing or damaging the metal cover. To overcome this, it has been proposed Mto provide the metal cover with an upturned or rolled skirt or lower edge, which initially is rolled up so as to lie above the container rim during the sealing operation, thereby allowing free distorsion of the plastic cap. The skirt of the metal cover or capsule is then turned down or unrolled so as to engage the under side of the container rim flange, thereby imparting to the sealing assembly its desired tamper-proof character. The procedure however is not fully satisfactory because the nal tamper-proof seal thus obtainable is not very strong, and moreover this sealing method is inapplicable to sealing assemblies wherein the plastic cap is relatively deep or long in its vertical dimension.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved composite seal of the type specified, which is so constructed that it can be applied in a single operation while at the same time providing a strong tamper-proof seal regardless of the dimension required. A broader object is to provide an improved tamper-proof, reusable seal for containers.

According to the invention, a sealing assembly is provided which comprises a cap of yielding, e.g. plastic, material, engageable about the rim of a container, and an outer cover or capsule of tearable material, e.g. metal. bonded to said cap in such a manner as to provide an annular space or gap between the peripheral side walls of the cap and cover, which space or gap is large enough to permit of distorsion of the yielding cap as it is passed over said container rim, and wherein the side wall of said cover, after application of the sealing assembly to a container, is adapted to be deformed inwards into tight engagement with the side wall of said cap.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of illustration but not limitation with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an axial section of an improved sealing assembly prior to application to a container;

FIG. 2a is a broken vertical mid-section showing the left side of the same assembly positioned over the top of a bottle prior to the final operation in which the metal capsule is pressed inwards;

' FIG. 2b is a similar broken vertical mid-section showing the right side of the same assembly showing the final condition after said operation has been completed; and

FIG. 3 is a half plan view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. l.

The sealing assembly illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a cap member 1 made of suitable yielding or resilient material, e.g. polyethylene, which is of generally conventional conguration including a rounded, annular internal bead near its base for engagement under the rim or bead of a bottle neck, and further including an outturned annular flange 1a projecting outwards from its base for engagement by the inturned base of the outer metallic cover. The outer metallic cover 2 generally surrounds the cap 1 and includes the inturned base 2a engaging the outturned base flange 1a of the cap as just indicated. The cover or capsule 2 further includes a Hat upper wall applied against the flat top of the cap 1, and provided with a conventional ripper strip 3. Moreover a small annular projection 7 on the top of the cap 1 cooperates with an annular indentation 8 in the capsule 2 to prevent relative displacement between the cap and capsule.

According to the invention, the cylindrical side wall of the metal capsule 2 is arranged in outwardly spaced relation to the cylindrical side wall of the cap 1, so as to provide an annular space or gap 4 therewith of substantial radial dimension.

In applying the sealing assembly thus described to a bottle 5 as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, the assembly is inserted over the bottle neck by generally conventional bottle sealing means, and in so doing the side wall of the plastic cap 1 is distorted owing to the outward radial pressure exerted by the protruding rim bead 5a of the bottle, so that said cap wall assumes the outwardly convex form shown in FIG. 2a. Because of provision of the gap '4 according to the invention, the cap side wall is able to assume such distorsion Without deforming and damaging the side wall of the metal cover or capsule 2.' Thereafter, the side wall of the outer metal cover or capsule 2 is deformed or constricted by means of a suitable mechanical tool diagrammatically indicated at 6, so as to take up the gap 4 and apply said side wall tightly against the side wall of the cap 1, as shown in FIG. 2b. It will be observed from inspection of the drawings that flange 1a on the inner cap 1 is disposed in a hollow ange formed on the outer cap 2 when the gap 4 between the sidewalls of the caps has been closed. (See right hand side of FIG. 2.)

In this condition the sealed assembly is tamper-proof, and can only be removed by rst ripping ot the outer cover by means of strip 3. Thereafter the cap 1 can be reused repeatedly.

What I claim is:

1. A container sealing assembly comprising an inner cap or resilient material having a sidewall adapted to be deformed radially outward about the rim bead of a container when said cap is engaged with said rim bead and having an annular internal bead along said sidewall adapted to engage said container immediately beneath said rim bed, said cap further having an annular outturned flange at the lower end of said sidewall; and an outer cap of tearable material having an inturnedbase under said outturned flange and a sidewall disposed in radially spacedv relation outward from said sidewall of said inner cap thus providing an annular gap with said inner cap sidewall to accommodate said inner cap sidewall when said inner cap sidewall is engaged about said rim bear of said container and is deformed radially outward, the outer cap sidewall being adapted to be conformed downwardly and inwardly so as to erase said gap and conform to the outer surface of said sidewall of said inner cap thus to seal said container, said outer cap in its conformed condition having a hollow outturned flange in which the outturned ilange of the inner cap is disposed and said hollow ilange including said inturned base of the outer cap under the outturned ange of the inner cap, and said outer cap having 3 a tear strip for releasing said conformed outer cap from the inner cap.

2. The method of sealing a container having a projecting annular rim, which comprises applying over said rim a composite sealing assembly including an inner cap of deformable material having an annular outturned ange at the lower end of said sidewall and an outer cap of workable material having an inturned base under said outturned ange and a sidewall disposed in radially spaced relation outward from said sidewall of said inner cap thus providing a gap with said sidewall of the inner cap to accommodate radially outward movement of the sidewall of the inner cap when said assembly is being applied over said container rim, and working the sidewall of said outer cap downwardly and inwardly into tight engagement with the periphery of the sidewall of said inner cap and producing an outturned hollow flange including said inturned base on said outer cap and in which hollow flange said 5 outturned flange of the inner cap is disposed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

